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AHSOKA TAPPED WITH three fingers against the Jedi Knight's cheek, but Goldie looked pale, felt cold and wouldn't wake up. In the sallow light of the temple, Goldie's appearance resembled more like one of a corpse than one of a passed out human.

Ahsoka looked up to Anakin with concern in her eyes, and he quickly knelt down at Goldie's side as well. His blue eyes traveled up and down her body until he found what he was looking for.

The coat and clothes around Goldie's left shoulder were burned away and into her skin by Ventress' lightsaber, but there was a gash in her clothes by her abdomen as well. The assassin of the Sith must have cut her with a poisoned dagger during their encounter. The wound barely bled, as if the blade had only just scratched the surface of her skin, but that obviously didn't keep the poison from having entered Goldie's blood system.

Ahsoka saw the small wound too when Anakin nodded at it.

'Can you heal her?' she asked her master.

Anakin hesitated as he glanced at the group of remaining younglings around them. The seven children looked up at him like many did who believed he was the Chosen One, and he didn't want to disappoint them, but he also refused to put Goldie's life in danger by pretending he had mastered the skill of Force healing. Goldie was his friend and she needed proper care.

He shook his head. 'This is beyond my skill, Ahsoka. I can heal her superficial wounds but that wouldn't do anything to the poison coursing through her veins. We need Master Meadowdancer for something like this.'

'Yes, but she's not here,' Ahsoka snapped, pressing her fingers under Goldie's chin to feel for a heartbeat. She felt too stressed to sense it with the Force. What did they have to do? Ilum was cut off from the outside world due to the planetary blockade of the Seperatists; they had no where to go, no one to contact.

'Master Skywalker,' one of the younglings started, nervously fidgeting with his newly made lightsaber. 'Maybe you don't have to heal master Ember completely? You can try to contain the poison? To keep it from doing more damage until we can get her to Master Meadowdancer?'

Ahsoka averted her eyes back to Anakin in expectation.

'I can try,' Anakin answered after having thought about it for a second. If he did nothing, Goldie would surely die and trying to contain the poison was less risky than trying to heal it himself.

He placed his hand over Goldie's stomach and closed his eyes in concentration. He tried to sense the difference between the poison and blood in her veins. Seconds passed by as he scanned her physical condition, droplets of sweat trickled down his forehead and his lips were drawn into a tight and straight line. It all felt the same to him, though. The poison must be something far advanced, or his healing skills were much worse than he thought.

'I cannot do it,' Anakin breathed out, his chest heaving as if he had run for hours straight. 'I cannot do it. . .' he repeated again, his voice on the verge of breaking. He hated feeling this helpless; after all these years of training, he was still unable to safe those he cared about, just like with his mother.

Ahsoka placed her hand on his shoulder and he slowly looked at her. The padawan had a determined glow in her bright eyes and she took a deep breath. 'Together,' she said to her master.

 Anakin smiled half-heartily. 'Together,' he said, but he feared it might not be enough.

They both placed their hands over Goldie's abdominal wound, and reached out with their minds.

They reached inside. . . through the pain. . . through the cloudy haziness. . . beyond the never-ending abyss. . .

With each other to guide them, they located all of the poison and pulled it to one spot, containing it there with walls made of pure life force.

Ahsoka and Anakin opened their eyes, removing their hands as Goldie took a deep breath; life returning to her.

She was safe, for now.

✧✧

MIKO STARED WITH A stunned expression at the red lightsaber in his hands.

For a moment he forgot his surrounding; he forgot he stood in the middle of the Galactic Chamber with all eyes of the senators focussed upon him, he forgot the five bounty hunters he had hired to help him in his fight against the Dark Side, but he didn't forget Chancellor Palpatine.

Palpatine must have corrupted the Kyber crystal when he had turned his back on him. Miko didn't understand how, but he was after all Darth Sidious. His powers could reach far beyond Miko's own comprehension.

Miko managed, with great effort, to tear his eyes away from the lightsaber, and he looked at Senator Amidala, but her first kind and soothing presence had changed. Padmé no longer trusted him and her smile had turned into a scowl as soon as the lightsaber had coloured everything red in its near presence.

'Please,' Miko whispered at Padmé, quickly pressing the button and the red energy disappeared.

'Did I not tell you,' Chancellor Palpatine started dramatically (and Miko trembled as he slowly turned around to face him), 'it is not I who is a Sith Lord. It is, and always has been Miko Palmaran!'

Miko shook his head repeatedly. 'No, no, no,' he screamed. 'That's not true, Palpatine has framed me!'

The Chancellor smiled maliciously and Miko knew he had lost when he sensed the sniper rifles turned on him.

Miko took a step back -- his lower back hitting the edge of the repulsorpod -- while Palpatine took a step forward. The Chancellor was still shackled but Miko feared him now more than ever.

'You have lost.' Palpatine lowered his voice so much that only he and Mas Amedda could hear his next words: 'my old apprentice.'

Miko noticed the change in the air and jumped off the repulsorpod before the laser blasters could hit him; instead they bore five small holes through the place he had been standing a mere second ago.

He fell through the air, his dark robes flapping and his white hair dancing as if there was a storm raging on around him. He ignored the surprised gasps of the senators as he soared past their pods, and he hoped no one would get the idea to intercept his fall with their own repulsorpods. He had to get out of here and downwards seemed to be the only way at the moment.

'Stop him!' Chancellor Palpatine's voice thundered through the Galactic Chamber while Miko was still falling, faster and faster, but Palpatine was too late.

Miko used the Force when the floor was only a few feet away and he gracefully landed on the dark grey carpet, immediately jumping aside as well when another blast shot towards him. With a sizzling sound, the blast bore itself in the carpet and black smoke twirled up from the place of the impact.

Miko glanced upwards, maybe even catching the frustrated eyes of the Chancellor far above him, before dashing away into the hallway next to him. This had been his only chance to expose Palpatine as Darth Sidious, and he had failed miserably. . .

Instead, now the whole Senate thought Miko was a Sith Lord, and he felt the sudden impulse to throw his corrupted lightsaber away, but deep down he knew he might need it to fight his way out of the Senate building.

As he ran through the corridors of the building, another thought occurred to him as well. If he got to the Jedi Council before Palpatine could contact them, maybe they would believe him. Especially if he laid out the arguments he had wanted to lay out to the Senate.

The Jedi might be distrustful of Miko because of his past, but it seemed like he no longer had a choice. If he had to choose between this and being on the run for the rest of life, he would take his chances with the Council.

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